THE Higher Education Commission has made the equivalence letters mandatory for all employed and yet-to-be employed faculty members of universities. Theeducated academia is required to get equivalence from the HEC after several years of service in public-sector universities. I had the misfortune of going to the HEC`s equivalence department for getting from it an equivalence letter.
The attitude of the clerk at the counter was derogatory. The counter is nothing but a little peephole in the wall from where the clerk makes frantic calls for degrees,passports, stayinforeignlands, transladons of degrees,etc.
The HEC should instead have seen to seating arrangements and proper desks for those coming to get equivalence letters. The HEC asks candidate to give an email address of the degree-issuing university. The university is contacted at the email address by the HEC and subsequently an equivalence letter is issued af ter a delay of several months.
This lethargic and ill-formulated process costs the candidate an exorbitant sum of Rs5,000. The cost of issuing a letter that too on the basis of an email address providedby the candidateis too high. It seems, the HEC has made the equivalence letters its money-minting tool.
The system should be revamped and the cost brought down. An equivalence letter on the HEC letterhead should not cost more than a few rupees.
